Native American prehistory—Arctic
Native American prehistory in the Arctic encompasses the early human adaptations and cultural developments in a challenging and diverse environment. This region, defined as the circumpolar area north of the treeline, includes significant areas such as the Bering Strait land bridge, northern Alaska, northern Canada, the Canadian Archipelago, and Greenland. Human habitation in the Arctic began around 10,000 BCE, with evidence of various cultural traditions emerging over millennia. Notable prehistoric cultures include the Paleo-Arctic, Arctic Small Tool tradition, pre-Dorset, Dorset, and Thule, each representing a progression of technological and social adaptations to the Arctic climate and resources.
Archaeological research, particularly from the 1920s onward, has shed light on these cultures, revealing their reliance on marine resources and innovative hunting techniques. The Thule culture, which originated in Alaska, became prominent for its whale-hunting practices, while the earlier Dorset culture showcased a different set of survival strategies. As these cultures evolved, they laid the groundwork for contemporary Aleut and Eskimo peoples, highlighting the continuity and change within Arctic indigenous traditions. Understanding Native American prehistory in the Arctic offers insights into human resilience and adaptation in one of the world’s most extreme environments.
Subject Terms
Native American prehistory—Arctic
Date: c. 10,000 b.c.e.-c. 1800 c.e.
Location: Bering Strait land bridge (Beringia), northern Alaska, northern Canada, the Canadian Archipelago, Greenland
Cultures affected: Aleut, Eskimo (Inuit)
The Arctic ordinarily is defined as the circumpolar region lying north of the treeline where the warmest temperature is below 10 degrees centigrade; it only roughly approximates the Arctic Circle. In the Western Hemisphere, the prehistoric Arctic culture area included the Bering Strait land bridge (Beringia), northern Alaska and northern Canada, the Canadian Archipelago, and most of Greenland. Next to the Antarctic, it was the last of the global niches in which humans made those adaptations essential to their survival, a process that had begun by 10,000 b.c.e.
Serious archaeological research into the Western Hemisphere Arctic began in the 1920’s with the work of Knud Rasmussen, Kaj Birket-Smith, and Terkel Mathiassen. It bared the outlines of a whale-hunting Eskimo culture named Thule, the origins of which lay in Alaska, where a Paleo-Arctic tradition dated to 10,000 b.c.e. In 1925, archaeologist Diamond Jenness unearthed evidence of a hitherto unknown Arctic culture, since called Dorset, that predated the Thule tradition. A rapid extension of Arctic research after 1945 by Helge Larsen, Jorgen Meldgaard, J. Louis Giddings, William Taylor, and Elmer Harp, Jr., among others, broadened knowledge of Thule culture and Dorset culture. They and other researchers also provided evidence of a pre-Dorset culture that spread across the northern, central, and eastern Arctic during postglacial warming periods and discovered an Arctic Small Tool tradition as well. By the 1990’s, the Arctic prehistoric cultural sequence—as defined by archaeological findings—proceeded from Paleo-Arctic (10,000 b.c.e.-6000 b.c.e.), to the Arctic Small Tool tradition (4200 b.c.e.-3100 b.c.e.), to pre-Dorset (4500 b.c.e.-c.1300 b.c.e.) to Dorset (700 b.c.e.-1000 c.e.), to Thule (100-c.1800). Note that there are gaps as well as periods during which traditions overlap. These historically related traditions underlay more recent Aleut and Eskimo cultures and undoubtedly had still more ancient origins in Asia.